Her smile widened, watching the other's reactions. "Of course. ...I could show you things later as well, but... I'm afraid it's all far easier here and now. Let's...?" She stepped toward the stairs down, holding out a hand for Rren's, ready to lead on.
If one considered that a "proper" castle was supposed to house many dozens or even hundreds of people or more, then hers was quite small; it really was meant only for a handful, perhaps up to a dozen, to stay long very comfortably. But it was neatly built, the stones even, the rooms' shapes looking like something that might have been made more recently somehow, rather than laid out piece by piece by hand, as must have been done traditionally. A medieval building, with more modern construction methods? Closer inspection showed tiny specks of something, perhaps mica, embedded in the dark stone's polished surfaces, giving the blocks their subtle sparkle. There were few spots for lamps or sconces or anything of the sort; the stained glass let in quite a lot of light, and where it did not, she would absently gesture, and a small ball of a glow would start from wherever she'd barely indicated, a materially sourceless illumination that hinted at very real origins for old stories of will-o-wisps. They followed the two of them, or faded once left behind.
She led them both through the hallways, seeming completely at ease, even happy here... but as if that were a surprise? This was her home, after all. A giant work of art as much as it was a mansion, her castle had much that was to be expected: a few small places that would have to be a privy, a large bath room with a tub built several yards across in both directions, a kitchen area with doors that descended to the cellar by the pantry, with shelves and shelves full of bottles of wine and little actual fresh food to be found... an area outside that seemed to be a rather nice barn or stables, built onto the castle the way one might expect a garage to be, in more recent times, though it didn't look to be much used, past storing hay and dried grasses... a large hall, for who knew what, perhaps throwing a party? A ballroom of sorts? A large courtyard, full of even more roses.... There were bedrooms, for guests, all of them fairly large....
Two of the bedrooms turned out to overlook the front of the castle, mirroring each other in their placement on either side. One of them seemed unoccupied; the other was half library, with shelves full of handmade, probably handwritten books covering most of about half of it. In the unoccupied room, the littler room just past that end was a sort of en suite bathroom, but in this room -- Mallia's own, Rren could guess -- that smaller adjoining room was a storage of some kind, shelves full of crystals and jewels, many cut and polished, many others not. Some were set into staffs, or set in jewelry of some kind, be it a pendant or ring. Most were still loose, simply sitting in place in a nest of twigs or string, to keep them in place. She'd collected shiny objects, apparently...?
But perhaps also interesting was what wasn't present: there was no throne room at all. The large ballroom didn't have a clear singular front or back, at least not as it currently appeared. The chairs throughout the castle were all of similar builds, not all identical, but clearly enough nothing intended to create a sense of higher stature. Artistic carvings or paintings over them were simply that, decoration....
And even had Rren been looking for it, there was no crown to be found here. She seemingly didn't hold herself up as any sort of ruler, even here in her part of the dreamscape, simply the owner of the rather impressively pretty stone mansion, her playground, her safe haven full of flowers and stained glass, and things collected over many centuries....
no subject
If one considered that a "proper" castle was supposed to house many dozens or even hundreds of people or more, then hers was quite small; it really was meant only for a handful, perhaps up to a dozen, to stay long very comfortably. But it was neatly built, the stones even, the rooms' shapes looking like something that might have been made more recently somehow, rather than laid out piece by piece by hand, as must have been done traditionally. A medieval building, with more modern construction methods? Closer inspection showed tiny specks of something, perhaps mica, embedded in the dark stone's polished surfaces, giving the blocks their subtle sparkle. There were few spots for lamps or sconces or anything of the sort; the stained glass let in quite a lot of light, and where it did not, she would absently gesture, and a small ball of a glow would start from wherever she'd barely indicated, a materially sourceless illumination that hinted at very real origins for old stories of will-o-wisps. They followed the two of them, or faded once left behind.
She led them both through the hallways, seeming completely at ease, even happy here... but as if that were a surprise? This was her home, after all. A giant work of art as much as it was a mansion, her castle had much that was to be expected: a few small places that would have to be a privy, a large bath room with a tub built several yards across in both directions, a kitchen area with doors that descended to the cellar by the pantry, with shelves and shelves full of bottles of wine and little actual fresh food to be found... an area outside that seemed to be a rather nice barn or stables, built onto the castle the way one might expect a garage to be, in more recent times, though it didn't look to be much used, past storing hay and dried grasses... a large hall, for who knew what, perhaps throwing a party? A ballroom of sorts? A large courtyard, full of even more roses.... There were bedrooms, for guests, all of them fairly large....
Two of the bedrooms turned out to overlook the front of the castle, mirroring each other in their placement on either side. One of them seemed unoccupied; the other was half library, with shelves full of handmade, probably handwritten books covering most of about half of it. In the unoccupied room, the littler room just past that end was a sort of en suite bathroom, but in this room -- Mallia's own, Rren could guess -- that smaller adjoining room was a storage of some kind, shelves full of crystals and jewels, many cut and polished, many others not. Some were set into staffs, or set in jewelry of some kind, be it a pendant or ring. Most were still loose, simply sitting in place in a nest of twigs or string, to keep them in place. She'd collected shiny objects, apparently...?
But perhaps also interesting was what wasn't present: there was no throne room at all. The large ballroom didn't have a clear singular front or back, at least not as it currently appeared. The chairs throughout the castle were all of similar builds, not all identical, but clearly enough nothing intended to create a sense of higher stature. Artistic carvings or paintings over them were simply that, decoration....
And even had Rren been looking for it, there was no crown to be found here. She seemingly didn't hold herself up as any sort of ruler, even here in her part of the dreamscape, simply the owner of the rather impressively pretty stone mansion, her playground, her safe haven full of flowers and stained glass, and things collected over many centuries....